54Q 



NA TURE 



{April 9, 1885 



A.D. 491, March 29, at ih. 30m. Paris mean time 



Moon's right ascension 48 35 53 



„ declination + 12 53 1 



Hourly motion in R. A 2 9'44 



„ in Decl +7"39 



The position of Aldebaran was in R.A. 47° 50' 44", Decl. 

 + 12° 10' 15". The sidereal time at mean noon at Nankin was 

 oh. 2ym. 36s., and, calculating for that place, we find the star 

 disappeared at 9I1. 2m. local mean time, and would set at 

 gh. 14m., so that its altitude at disappearance was only 2°"3. 

 Whence, assuming the accuracy of these computations, it is 

 clear that the occultation could not have been seen as recorded 

 at Nankin, if the moon's place about the epoch to which they 

 refer were sensibly behind that deduced, so as to render possible 

 an observation in twilight at Athens of the occultation of 

 March II, 509. 



This result for the circumstances of disappearance of Alde- 

 baran at Nankin in 491 reminds us of a similar observation made 

 in London on the occultation of the same star, September 14, 

 1 71 7, probably from the roof of the Royal Society's house in 

 Crane Court, Fleet Street, whence, we are told, on the occasion 

 of the total solar eclipse in 1715 there was a free horizon. " On 

 the 14th of September, in the evening, for the first time the 

 moon returned after a long interval to hide PaliHcium ; and the 

 sky was extraordinarily clear at London, so that the moon and 

 the star were seen to rise in the horizon at the same time ; the 

 immersion of PaliHcium was at 9I1. 6m. 20s., the moon not 

 being 3 high, in the very middle, as it were, of the eastern limb, 

 over against the northern part of that small macula which 

 Hevelius called Stagnum Mceridis, and Ricciolus by his own 

 name ..." 



Barnard's Comet. — A new computation of the orbit of this 

 comet, by Mr. Egbert, of the Dudley Observatory, Albany, 

 U.S., confirms that of Dr. Berberich, as regards the close 

 approach which the comet makes to the orbit of Mars. At a 

 true anomaly of 37° 35', corresponding to heliocentric longitude 

 343 52' (equinox of 1884), the distance is within 0008, the 

 earth's mean distance from the sun being taken as unity, and a 

 very close approach of the two bodies may have taken place, as 

 before remarked, at the end of the year 1873. Dr. Berberich's 

 period of revolution is 19589 days, that of Mr. Egbert 1970-3 

 days, an increase of only ten clays on the latter period would 

 suffice to have brought the comet and planet together in De- 

 cember 1873. The latest observation made by M. Perrotui, at 

 Nice, in November, 18S4, has not yet been brought to bear 

 upon the direct calculation of the orbit, though Dr. Berberich's 

 comparison of his elements therewith shows but small difference 

 between calculation and observation. Barnard's comet does not 

 quite attain to the orbit of Jupiter, the distance at aphelion being 

 o'555- 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 



WEEK, 1885, APRIL 12-18 

 (For the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at 

 Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, is here 

 employed.) 



At Greenwich on April 12 

 Sun rises, 5I1. 12m. ; souths, I2h. om. 417s. ; sets, iSh. 51m. ; 

 decl. on meridian, S° 51' N. : Sidereal Time at Sunset, 

 8h. 15m. 

 Moon (New on April 15) rises, 4I1. 2m. ; souths, 9I1. 47m. ; 

 sets, 15I1. 43m. ; decl. on meridian, 3 3S' S. 



Mars in conjunction with and 0° 12' south 



of the Moon. 

 Venus in conjunction with and o° 6' north 



of the Moon. 

 Mercury in conjunction wilh and 6° 21 



north of the Moon. 

 Mercury stationary. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



The Pescadores, which have recently been bombarded and 

 occupied by Admiral Courbet, are a small group of islands lying 

 in the Formosa Channel, about twenty-five miles off the west 

 coast of Formosa. They are attached for administrative purposes 

 to that island, and form one of the six districts into which it is 

 divided. The islands are known to the Chinese as the Panghu- 

 ting, or district of Panghu, and in Chinese geographical works 

 more than thirty distinct islands are mentioned, but no distinc- 

 tion is made between the inhabited and uninhabited, large and 

 small islands, nor between islands and mere rocks and shoals. 

 The largest of the group is called Panghu, and from it f the 

 archipelago has doubtless derived its name. The main island is 

 forty-eight miles in circumference, and the next in size, called 

 Fisher's or West Island, is seventeen. According to the late 

 Admiral Collinson, who surveyed it in 1845, the want of trees, 

 which the Chinese officers accounted for by the violence of the 

 wind and the absence of sheltered valleys, give the islands a 

 barren appearance. Millet is extensively cultivated, and between 

 its rows the ground-nut is planted. In sheltered spots the sweet 

 potato and a few vegetables are grown, but the inhabitants de- 

 pend mainly on Formosa for vegetables and fruits. Bullocks 

 and poultry were abundant. The population of the two larger 

 islands was stated then to be 5000, and of the whole of the 

 islands 8000. The archipelago contains actually twenty-one 

 inhabited islands, besides several rocks. They extend from 

 23° 13' to 23° 48' N. lat., and from 19° 16' to 119 37' E. long. 

 Their general appearance is flat, the summits of many of the 

 islands being nearly level, and no part of the group being 300 

 feet above the sea-level. The two larger islands are situated 

 near the centre of the archipelago, forming an extensive and 

 excellent harbour between them. The capital of the whole — 

 Makung or Macon — is situated on the noith side of an inlet on 

 the main island. The islands offer shelter in all states of the 

 weather in the dangerous Formosa Channel. 7 he archipelago 

 was seized by the Dutch in 1622, and some remains of their 

 fortifications are still to be seen ; but in 1624 they left for For- 

 mosa, where they remained till finally driven out by the Chinese 

 pirate Koxinga. 



Port Hamilton, the English Naval Station in the North 

 Pacific, acquired during the past week, is the name commonly 

 applied to the large Corean island of Quelpart, situated about 

 sixty miles due south of the extreme point of the Corean penin- 

 sula, and situated between 33 and 34 N. lat. and 126° and 127 

 E. long. It has been described at great length by Hamel, the 

 "secretary" of a Dutch vessel wrecked there on its way to 

 Nagasaki in the seventeenth century. Hamel and his com- 

 panions were kept captive in Corea for thirty-five years, when 

 some of them succeeded in escaping. Hamel's story will be 

 found in Pinkerton and other collections of voyages. Dur- 

 ing the present century it has also been visited occasionally in 

 search of the crews of shipwrecked vessels. A glance at the 

 map shows its position relatively to Japan, North China, 1 irea, 

 and the Sea of Japan, and it- value as a naval station better than 

 any w ords could do. It is 150 miles distant from Shanghai, 

 about 100 miles from Nagasaki, and lies in the mouth of the only 

 exit to the south from the Sea of Japan. It is described by 

 Mr. Gril'lis, a recent historian of Corea, as an oval, rock-bound 

 island covered with innumerable conical mountains, tipped in 

 many instances by extinct volcanic craters, the highest of all 

 being Mount Auckland, or Haura, which is about 6500 feet 

 high. On the top are three extinct craters, within each of 

 which is a lake of pure water, and Corean children are still 

 taught to believe that the three first-created men of the world 

 still dwell on these lofty heights. The whole island is well 

 cultivated ; there are a number of towns, three walled 

 cities, but no good harbours. It has long been used as a 

 place of banishment for criminals. The chief industry is the 

 manufacture of straw hats, those from Quelpart being the best 

 in Corea, which is a country of large straw hats. It has been 



